• by Steve Ellwanger , October 3, 2019

Ocean Spray is launching its first new brand since the farmer-owned cooperative was founded in 1930. It’s a line of plant-based drinks with a wellness positioning and the brand name Atoka, under a plan that envisions expansion beyond beverages to other food products.

Atoka Tea Tonics, Herbal Shots and Oatmilk Elixirs are the first products to emerge from Ocean Spray’s Lighthouse incubator unit in Boston, where some of the line is being test-marketed in advance of broader distribution in January.

In 2018, Ocean Spray acquired Atoka Cranberries in Quebec to expand its existing manufacturing footprint in the province. Atoka means cranberry in the language of indigenous peoples of Quebec.

Ocean Spray is planning other products beyond juices under the Atoka brand to create “a diversified health and wellness portfolio,” Christina Ferzli, head of global and corporate affairs at Ocean Spray, tells Marketing Daily.

In addition to its beverages, fresh fruit and snack products, Ocean Spray has sold cranberry supplements in the form of soft chews. With Atoka, the company isn’t confining itself to consumer packaged goods, according to Ferzli.

“Rather than focusing specifically on the CPG category, we are focusing on redefining the food system to become a health and wellness system.”

In the greater Boston area, Atoka’s Tea Tonics and Herbal Shots are currently available in such small, natural-product retailers as Pemberton Farms, Good Health and Wicked Healthy, locations where Atoka is conducting in-store sampling events.

“In addition, we have a robust social media strategy, which includes influencer and some paid advertising,” says Nicole Constant, senior brand marketing manager at Ocean Spray.

Beyond Boston, Atoka plans to expand retail distribution to other, unspecified regions and will begin direct-to-consumer sales in January, according to an Ocean Spray spokeswoman.

Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 cranberry farmers in the United States, Canada and Chile. The company says products containing its cranberries are sold in more than 100 countries.

The spokeswoman says the company has no plans at this time to enter the CBD-infused products space.